


call this a drowning of the past

by sleeplessmiles



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-01 23:39:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2791919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeplessmiles/pseuds/sleeplessmiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Skye's being patched up after a mission gone awry, Lance notices the scars marking her abdomen. Skye decides it's time to bring him into the fold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	call this a drowning of the past

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a skyelance prompt I received over on tumblr. The jemmalance thing is purely incidental, and an occupational hazard of asking me to write anything these days.
> 
> There's a definite blood CW for this; there are also allusions to gun violence and knife violence.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

So. It was entirely possible that Skye had gotten herself a little bit stabbed.

Honestly, in her defense, the whole thing had happened so quickly that it took a while to even register. They’d been dealing with their assailants, in a very roundabout kind of way, when this guy came out of nowhere – _literally_ out of fucking nowhere, she’d swear he was a Gifted or something – and Lance had his back turned like an idiot, so she’d barely even had time to think before pushing his dumb ass out of the way.

Turns out the guy had had a knife. Which meant she’d gotten a nice long gash up the side of her abdomen for her efforts.

It was just a scratch, really. Just a slightly-deeper-than-she-was-comfortable-with scratch. But it still meant that she’d had the pleasure of looking down to see her shirt soaking through with blood and wow, _that_ was not something she’d ever wanted to see again.

And then Lance had yelled, and May had done her version of yelling (which mostly consisted of low tones and furious eyes), and Lance had yelled again, and then a bit more, and then a lot more until she punched him in the arm and told him to give her his jacket.

As soon as Skye had walked back into the base, Lance’s ruined jacket pressed to her side, Jemma’s whole face had turned ashen and she’d immediately ordered everyone out of the lab. May, sensing that Jemma didn’t need an audience, had stayed long enough for Skye to be given the all-clear before excusing herself as well.

Lance, on the other hand, had either missed the stress that was rolling off the small scientist in waves or didn’t care, because he’d insisted on staying anyway.

Skye was fully prepared to tell Jemma to ease up on him – the guy was clearly agitated by what had happened – but it seemed that Jemma understood instinctively. As annoyed as she was at both his continued presence and his getting in the way, she seemed to be biting her tongue.

For the most part.

All in all, Skye was probably dealing with it the best out of everyone. Which was kind of amazing, really, since she was the one who got the pointy end of the knife.

 

 

She watched now, sitting up on the bench as Jemma poked and prodded at the wound, feeling oddly disconnected from it all. It was a lot like how she’d felt watching her shirt soak through earlier – as though she was a spectator, rather than experiencing it.

(She didn’t really know what to make of that.)

‘You were incredibly lucky, Skye,’ Jemma was saying quietly, looking up to meet Skye’s eyes with a serious expression. There was a heaviness behind her solemn gaze that seemed to be ever-present lately, laden with the weight of all the past year’s loss. It was pretty hard to look at. Skye swallowed, nodded just slightly.

From where he was hovering just behind Jemma, Lance blew out a heavy breath.

Tutting to herself, Jemma tugged gently at the fabric around the gash. ‘I’m going to need to cut away the rest of your shirt to get at the wound, I’m afraid.’ She looked back up at Skye, wincing apologetically. ‘Sorry.’ 

‘About the _shirt_?’

‘Well, it’s not like we get to make that many shopping trips,’ Jemma defended, reaching for a sterile pair of scissors. Skye made a face, incredulous.

‘Okay, but you figured I’d wear a ripped shirt in the meantime? What, as a trophy?’ 

‘I hear midriff tops are all the rage this season,’ Lance joked half-heartedly, smiling slightly. Skye shot a reassuring grin over at him.

‘You know what? You’re totally right, I could so rock it. It’d be like a warning: don’t fuck with Skye.’

‘I think the relevant people are already _well_ aware of that,’ Jemma replied, frowning as she carefully cut up the centre of Skye’s shirt. When she was about an inch from the neckline, she paused. 

‘Lance, avert your eyes, please.’

He huffed a laugh. ‘What?’ 

‘I _said,_ look away.’

‘Simmons, it’s fine,’ Skye said on a laugh, trying to defuse the situation. Jemma looked downright pissed.

‘If he’s going to insist on being here – ’

‘Hey. Let me worry about my decency, okay? I’m wearing a sports bra; he can deal.’

Raising her eyebrows in defeat, Jemma cut away the last of the shirt before turning to grab for the instruments she needed.

And yeah, Lance _was_ kind of gawking, but Skye didn’t really think much of it.

Jemma, however, was a different story.

When she turned back around and saw what he was looking at, she stuck a vicious elbow into his ribs, pushing him out of the way.

‘ _Ow._ What the hell was that for?’

‘Don’t be disgusting. She’s injured!’

‘Wha –?’

Understanding dawned at the furious expression on Jemma’s face.

‘I wasn’t staring at her _chest_! Why would I do that?’ he spluttered, immediately defensive.

‘Wow,’ Skye interjected. ‘Thanks. Something wrong with them?’

‘Of course not! They’re… lovely?’ At their twin expressions of disbelief, he rubbed a hand over his face. ‘ _God_. I was being good, alright?’

Jemma made a disgusted sound at him, turning back to Skye’s wound.

But Skye had just realised why he looked so uneasy. He actually hadn’t been looking at her chest.

He’d been looking at her scars.

Weirdly enough, it hadn’t really been a problem she’d considered before now; between becoming a terrorist organisation and being shot at on a near daily basis, there hadn’t really been much time for bikinis.

When she looked back up at him, his eyes were searching her face quietly.

‘I thought you said you weren’t even a SHIELD agent before all this,’ he said, voice soft.

She shrugged a shoulder on the side Jemma wasn’t working on. ‘Was for a little bit.’ 

‘You survived a gut shot?’

Jemma’s hands stilled. She looked up at Skye through her lashes, cautious. Lance looked between their faces and immediately picked up on the darkened mood.

‘You know what? Forget I asked. Let’s just pretend I was looking at your boobs, yeah?’

Jemma scrunched up her nose, looking across at him with a mixture of disgust and confused surprise. Skye was pretty surprised herself.

He was just going to drop it? That was very un-Lance-like.

The thing was, he was kind of a part of this now. They’d kept all the new members on a need-to-know basis at first, everything still too fresh to talk about if they didn’t actually have to. 

But it was different now. They were _in_ it. They’d survived some really shitty situations together, and there was still a lot they didn’t know.

And she kind of just took a knife that was headed for Lance, and he still looked like the thought of it made him want to puke. 

She made the call.

‘No, it’s fine. I did survive a gut shot, yeah.’

Jemma was looking up at her in alarm, now.

‘You’re here to stay now. Might as well hear it all, right?’

‘Skye, you _really_ don’t have to – ’ 

‘ – she’s right, it’s not important – ’

She cut them both off. ‘ _Guys_. Stop. I’m not breakable.’

The worried crease of Jemma’s forehead as she went back to examining the stab wound seemed to suggest she thought otherwise.

Skye sighed. Full disclosure, right? It was a trust thing.

‘There was this guy. Ian Quinn.’

Jemma scoffed. ‘“This guy.”’

‘Hey, you wanna tell the story?’ 

‘Honestly? Yes.’

Skye met Jemma’s eyes then, and for the first time she really understood just how rattled her friend was.

There had been a night, a few weeks into Skye’s recovery, when Jemma had simply appeared in the early hours with a tear-streaked face to check Skye’s vitals. After a bit of gentle prodding, Skye had gotten her to confess what was wrong, and she’d heard the entire story of the shooting from Jemma’s perspective.

The girl hadn’t been dealing well, back then. Right now? She looked to be dealing with it even worse. 

Jemma hated thinking about anything to do with that period, but she’d tell the story anyway. If it saved Skye the pain, she’d tell it.

_Jesus Christ, Jemma._

Skye held her gaze, trying to infuse her expression with as much reassurance as possible. Finally, Jemma sighed, tearing her eyes away, and Skye knew she’d won this round.

‘I’m going to go to the storage room to fetch some more bandages,’ she announced stiffly. ‘We’re running a bit low. I’ll need you to hold this gauze against your side until I get back.’

‘Sure thing, Doc.’ That earned Skye a tiny smile.

‘We’ll hold up the fort here, then.’

Jemma rounded on Lance. ‘Don’t upset her.’

‘Why would I do that?’

Jemma pinned him with a warning glance, narrowing her eyes slightly, before turning and swiftly walking out of the room. Despite herself, Skye felt one corner of her mouth tug upwards.

‘ _Wow_. What’d you do to piss her off?’ 

‘Nothing!’ Lance answered, too quickly.

‘Really.’

‘Yes, _really_. It’s just…’ he sighed in defeat. ‘A thing.’

‘A thing,’ she repeated.

Everyone had noticed the unlikely friendship that had formed between the tiny scientist and the grumpy mercenary. It was kind of adorable, really.

‘Not like _that_.’

It was also a lot of fun to tease them about.

‘Whatever you say, champ.’

After a few moments passed by with no response, Skye looked up to see Lance watching her with a calm expression. He was waiting her out, she realised. He wasn’t going to push; he was just going to wait until she was ready to talk.

Wow. He picked a great time to stop acting like Lance Hunter.

‘Not much to tell. I got shot. Twice. Was pretty much dead until I got injected with a miracle alien drug, and now, here I am.’

‘This Quinn guy did it?’

‘Yeah. Took his orders from Garrett.’

He had a look of dawning comprehension about him now. ‘The crazy Hydra guy.’ 

The twist of her mouth was answer enough.

‘You’d think it would be easier, telling yourself they were just following orders, but…’

‘Not so much?’

She shrugged. ‘It still happened, right? The damage is still there.’ 

He hummed in agreement. ‘Now _that_ , I can relate to.’

They sat in silence for a little while – her collecting her thoughts, him waiting her out. Still.

Jerk. 

Finally, she shook her head a little. 

‘I shouldn’t have gone in alone,’ she murmured. ‘I just. I needed to stop him.’

Lance seemed to sense that it wasn’t a point he should push. ‘Did anyone know you were in there?’

‘Yeah. They found me bleeding out on the basement floor.’

He let out a low whistle.

‘All of them?’

She nodded, trying not to grimace at the thought. As out of it as she’d been by that point, she still had a distant recollection of their distressed voices talking over the top of her. Lately, she’d been having trouble pinning down their frantic tones to that particular moment – she’d heard them too distressed too often, by now – but her gut was still telling her it was a memory from that time.

It wasn’t a great memory.

Lance looked to be deep in thought.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Oh, I was just thinking – ’

‘ – don’t hurt yourself, there.’

He made a false mocking face at her, which she gladly returned. 

‘ _I was thinking_ , that explains why Jemma was so…’

Skye raised her eyebrows in warning. ‘So…?’ 

‘Oh, come on. You saw what just happened there. She was ready to eviscerate me.' 

‘You _were_ being kind of annoying.’

‘I’m always being kind of annoying,’ he replied, almost proudly. Skye fought the urge to roll her eyes. ‘But _she’s_ not always like that.’

He was right, of course, but it was only really part of the problem. Skye thought of the haunted look in her friend’s eyes; the ghost of every time she’d tended to Ward’s injuries lingering in the room.

She swallowed thickly.

‘I think she’s getting pretty tired of patching up her friends.’

With an exhale, he shifted so that he was standing next to her, leaning back on the bench.

‘Yeah.’

‘You know, she’s not even a doctor,’ Skye continued quietly, when the silence became too suffocating.

Lance openly scoffed. ‘I _know_. She’s two doctors. And if you could maybe get her to stop reminding me of that so damn much – ’

Skye kicked at him. ‘I meant medical doctor, you idiot.’

His eyebrows shot up, face suddenly serious.

‘But she plays team medic anyway?’

‘There’s no playing about it,’ she shot back, gesturing at the neat patch of gauze she was holding.

‘How long’s she been doing that?’ he asked.

‘The whole time. From the plane to now.’

He just shook his head, seeming genuinely shocked. ‘You people are a bloody mess.’

‘Hey. We’re your mess now.’

‘Yeah.’

Suddenly, Lance was looking right at her. Really seriously.

‘You shouldn’t have taken that blade for me.’

Ah, shit.

Skye had known this was coming; she just hadn’t fully figured out what she was going to say yet, that was all.

So she went for light, trying to downplay it. ‘Well, maybe if you’d been paying more attention – ’

‘ – no. Skye.’ 

The look on his face was almost scarily haunted.

‘I almost died from a gunshot wound too, once. Well, several times – ’

‘ – but hey, who’s counting?’ she tried again, sarcastic.

He just stared at her.

‘I’m being serious.’

Sobering up, she nodded, signaling that he had her full attention.

‘You know I used to be in the army.’

She did.

‘I was three weeks into my first tour when we were ambushed. We just…’ He shook his head. ‘There was no warning. I was trying to cover some of the other guys in my unit when some shifty bastard shot at my back. Four times.’

‘Jesus.’

‘Three of the bullets hit me,’ he continued. ‘My mate took the other one. And guess which slug was the killer.’

He wasn’t looking at her anymore, gaze instead fixated straight ahead. Skye exhaled shakily.

‘I’m sorry.’

He waved her off.

‘Nothing to be sorry about. I’m just saying – I sort of understand what you’re going through. Like with this gash, for example.’ She wasn’t looking at him, but she could see his gesture out of the corner of her eye.

‘Feels like it isn’t happening to you, right?’

She glanced across at him, surprised.

‘Like you’re disconnected.’

‘Yeah.’

Skye continued to watch him curiously.

‘The first time I got a papercut after it happened,’ she admitted, ‘I just… watched it bleed. Didn’t even feel like it was happening to me.’

He was nodding, face showing nothing but complete understanding.

Shit. Who’d have thought she’d find a kindred spirit in Lance Hunter? 

‘Did yours scar?’ she asked quietly. He huffed out a bitter laugh.

‘Yeah, something awful. Shitload of scar tissue, too.’

‘Simmons says I got lucky with the scar tissue. Should have been a lot worse.’

He smiled a little. ‘Magical alien drug?’

One corner of her mouth tugged upwards in response. ‘The perks are endless.’

Out of nowhere, she became suddenly aware of how just uncomfortable the gauze was up against her wound. Fidgeting a little, she switched hands with a wince.

When she looked up again, Lance was taking his shirt off.

‘ _Fuck_ , Hunter, keep your clothes on will you?

‘Shut up, I’m just…’ 

And then he turned around, and wow, yeah, _that_ was a scar. There were three clear bullet wounds, as well as what she guessed were probably surgical scars, marring the skin of his lower back. It was pretty impressive, but she could practically feel her own scars pulling at how much physical pain he must have been in.

After a long moment in which Skye felt like they were both holding their breath, he shifted back around so that he was facing her.

His expression was intent.

‘The knife thing. Don’t do it again.’

And just like that, the warm, happy feeling was gone.

Now she was _pissed off._

‘Okay, not that I’m not grateful for storytime here, but that’s bullshit.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You’re going to sit there and pretend you wouldn’t do the same?’

‘Skye – ’

‘Look, it happened, okay? It’ll probably happen again. That’s what we do here. Fitz goes on field missions, gets in _way_ over his head so that he can protect people; Simmons jumps out of freaking planes – ’

‘ – she _what_?’

‘ – May just… We’ve got each other’s backs here.’

He only blinked at her. She didn’t blame him. It was a bit of a sudden outburst.

‘You’d do the same for me,’ she finished quietly, looking up at him. Lance sighed heavily, but she could see it on his face.

He would. In a heartbeat.

‘Apparently when you sign up for this circus, you have to check in your self-preservation at the door.’

‘What can I say? We make it work.’

‘Does this _really_ look like it’s working to you?’ he shot back incredulously, waving an arm at her wound.

Absurdly, Skye found herself grinning. ‘I’m still alive, right?’

‘You know,’ he began, shaking his head. ‘When I first got here, I had you all pegged as these straight-laced, obedient soldier-types.’

Skye snorted.

‘And now?’

‘Well, Jemma threatened to put me in a headlock the other day and I’m actually pretty sure she wasn’t kidding.’ 

As Skye barked out a delighted laugh, Jemma chose that precise moment to re-enter, carrying a container of bandages and a clipboard. She looked up at the sound of laughter, taking in the scene before her.

Which is when Skye realised how it probably looked: both of them shirtless and laughing, him standing close to where she was sitting.

Jemma’s eyebrows shot up mischievously.

‘ _Well_. Alright then.’

‘Oh, come _on_ ,’ Skye half-laughed. 

‘No, by all means, go right ahead.’ She turned back to her clipboard, eyes wide with bemusement.

‘We weren’t doing anything,’ Lance whined defensively, voice pitched way too high to be natural. Skye punched him in the arm.

‘ _Ow!_ ’

‘It’s none of my business.’ Was Jemma Simmons actually smirking? Jemma Simmons might actually be smirking.

Holy shit.

‘You know as well as I do that he’s been banging his ex-wife.’

Lance’s face dropped at Skye’s words. ‘How do you know about that?’

‘ _Everybody_ knows about that, Lance,’ Jemma chided absently, not even bothering to look up from her clipboard.

‘May found your shirt on the ground, genius.’

‘Not to mention the security footage,’ Jemma sing-songed, finally glancing up at them. There was a playful glint in her eyes. Skye grinned across at her.

The air in the lab was much lighter, now. You could see it on everyone’s face.

God, what a _relief_.

‘We all just feel sorry for Bobbi, mostly,’ Jemma continued, putting the clipboard down and setting about bandaging Skye’s side.

Skye caught on pretty quickly. ‘Yeah. Like, we respect her decision – ’

‘ – oh, of course!’

‘It’s entirely up to her – ’

‘ – definitely – ’

‘ – but, still. Poor thing.’

‘You know what?’ Lance exclaimed. ‘I take it all back. Step in front of as many knives as you want. See if I care.’

‘Aww,’ Jemma cooed, smile blinding as she secured the bandage. ‘Look how much he _cares_ , Skye!’

‘Speaking of “care,” I got a cut on my cheek, too. See? Nobody cares about that.’

‘Oh, come here,’ Jemma said, rolling her eyes in exasperation. After a brief inspection, she made a soft _tsk_ sound.

‘It’s not even deep enough for sutures! You’ll be fine. Besides,’ she flicked off her gloves, smiling up at him beatifically. ‘Makes you look all rugged.’

‘Bobbi probably loves it,’ Skye chipped in helpfully. Jemma’s smile broadened.

‘Ooooh, I bet she does.’

‘Alright, you know what? I think I’m about done in here.’

‘Aw, so soon?’ Jemma called after him, a slight laugh in her voice.

Lance paused for a moment at the lab door, looking back over his shoulder to meet Skye’s eyes. His face was a gentle question.

_Alright?_

She nodded once, smiling softly. With a small grin, he left.

Well. How about that.

Jemma, for her part, was staring at the spot Lance had just vacated, her forehead now creased in thought.

‘What?’ Skye asked after a while, when she showed no sign of moving.

‘Oh, I was just thinking it’s about time someone pranked him.’

With a wicked grin, Skye shuffled forward on the bench.

‘I’m all ears.’

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


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